Sons of Brutality

A SATANIC SNUFF CLUBA RUTHLESS VIGILANTEAN INTRICATE WEB OF DECEPTIONWHO CAN YOU TRUST?Los Angeles is in the grip of terror as two serial killers drop bodies throughout the city. One is killing in the name of justice; the other in the name of obsession.When the mutilated bodies of two young women are found in the Hollywood Hills with an inverted Christian cross branded into their chest, Detective Addison Mowbray suspects the crimes were inspired by an occult fascination. But apart from Addison's temperamental partner, Jed Perkins, the only other person keen on pursuing that line of investigation is Lilly Coniglio, a passionate medical examiner from the Coroner's Department.While Addison and Jed navigate a murky, disturbing occult landscape in search of answers, another series of bloody murders plague the LAPD as a vigilante continues to pile up victims, with plastic police badges left beside their bodies as a calling card.Digging deeper into the brutal Hollywood Hills murders, the detectives uncover something even more terrifying than a killer hiding in the shadows as they discover a group so vile and powerful that it changes their lives forever. Struggling with their own demons, these two flawed detectives find themselves as the only ones standing between this evil organization and a spectacular season of carnage in the City of Angels.Set against a backdrop of urban bleakness and social inequality, Sons of Brutality pits deeply flawed protagonists against human monsters, integrating strong dialogue, violent action, and gripping suspense.

From the Inside Flap

ForewordLet's get something straight right at the start: I am intimately familiar with every word of Daniel Jeudy's debut novel. In fact, I have read it twice now. I enjoyed it more the second time. In fact, the second reading was purely for pleasure. And this foreword represents my futile attempt to convey the beauty of Daniel's work. I read a lot. But I confess that quite often I will stop reading a novel before the halfway point. I become bored, perhaps. Or the language is less than it should be. Maybe the characters do not excite me.Daniel, though, has excited me with Sons of Brutality.The first time an author excited me—the first time I literally could not put a book down—was in the summer of 1981.I checked out Stephen King's Firestarter from the Buder Branch Library. For three days, I carried the hardcover book with me. I loved every page. I secretly wished the story would never end. After I returned it to Buder, I bought a copy from Target (I think). I've reread it several times. I didn't carry Daniel's book around with me in my backpack. But I've carried it in my head. And parts of it have followed me into my dreams. Meet Addison Mowbray, the jaded, hard-boiled veteran detective investigating the homicide of two young women whose mutilated bodies are found in the Hollywood hills. While Addison is a damaged soul, wrestling with unresolved childhood trauma and a fondness for liquor, his cynical philosophy and regrets have never affected his abilities as a detective. As a criminal profiler and hunter of serial killers, Addison has a unique ability to identify and understand the killers he tracks. He knows that he's not looking for a glamorous artist-genius like Hannibal Lecter. He is on the trail of an ugly evil.Sons of Brutality takes the reader into a world of drug-fueled Satanists, snuff clubs, and killers who engage in every lust the world has ever known. We meet characters driven by madness, uncontainable urges, men and women who seem to exude an almost godlike invulnerability. Daniel introduces us to the rich capitalist who spent thirty years assembling a posse of affluent lunatics. We get to know a misogynistic wife beater who kills people for the Armenian Mafia. Addison and his allies explore the city's underbelly to find their prey. What they didn't expect was the ability of these killers to make police investigations disappear.What I did not expect was Daniel's ability to make me turn the page, to read past the halfway point, to suppress my desire to sleep to finish just one more chapter. Then, finally, coming to the final page, and simply wanting more. MichaelMcConnellJune18, 2021

Reviews

News